Cistus incanus
Hairy rockrose
Family: Cistaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native
Hairy rockrose is a naturalized shrub found in northern California Coast Ranges, northern Southern California, San Gabriel Mountains, western Transverse Ranges (Liebre Mountains), and Peninsular Ranges in disturbed places at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from January to August, this plant produces rose to purple flowers 2 to 3 centimeters wide with delicate, wrinkled petals. Growing up to 1.3 meters tall with stems covered in both glandular and nonglandular hairs, it has a distinctive spreading habit. Its elliptic leaves are slightly wrinkled, with wavy margins and a single prominent vein emerging from the base. The fruit develops with 5 distinctive valves, adding structural interest to this Mediterranean landscape plant.
Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places
Bloom period: Jan-Aug
Elevation: < 1000 m
Bioregions: n&s CCo, n SCo, SnGb, WTR (Liebre Mtns), PR
California counties: Shasta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Marin, Santa Clara, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Napa, San Mateo, Ventura
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.